The Museum of Forest of Stone Tablets

Ladies and Gentlemen: Good morning.I am your local guide,Theo.Now we are heading to the treasure house of ancient calligraphy and stone carving art of China, the Museum of Forest of Stone Tablets .Are you ready? Ok let’s go.
The museum is located at the site of Confucian temple in SanXue Street, Xi’an. In 1950, the Confucian temple was extended into the museum that greets us taday. The museum covers an area of about 30,000 square meters. It was originally set up in 1087. Now over 3,000 stone tablets from the Han Dynasty through the Qing Dynasty are preserved. The numerous of tablets look like a dense forest, hence its name the “forest of Stone Tablets.”
Go into the temple, now we are on the bridge over pond in half circle which is special structure of Confucian temple, in the ancient time only those students who passed state examination would be allowed to passed here. Let’s go through the stone gate in the middle that was only for high ranks in the past. So we will go through it, Ha!
Net yard we can see two national treasures, on west side there is a stone horse which was one of few relics of DaXia short period；In the east pavilion there is the JingYun Bell which was casted in 711AD.The Bell has three aspects: the first, please look at it, it has exquisitely carving with phoenix, dragon; The second is unique epigraph; the third is beautiful sound which was records by CCTV and was played on New Year’s eve to Welcome the New Year’s coming.
The whole area consists of three parts: Confucian temple and exhibition of stone tablets and gallery of stone sculptures. We have saw the Confucian temple just now. Next we are going to visit 7 major stone tablets exhibition rooms.
In front of the first display room is the Tablet Pavilion specially built for the Classic on Filial Piety which is the largest and earliest one in the museum. It was engraved in 745AD and annotated by Li Longji The Classic on Filial Piety was a Confucian classic compiled by Zeng Shen ,a disciple of Confucius. The tablets is made up of four pieces of stone and a base under it ,therefore it is literally called the Stone-based Classic on Filial Piety.
This way, please. The first display room houses the Kaicheng Stone Classics ,which is the most completed and heaviest books in the world. In the past copying was the popular way for students who study the doctrines. To prevent copying errors, Emperor Tang Wenzhong employed many sculptors to carve the 12 classic on stone tablets for the students to get the rubbings from them. With another classic “Mencius” carved in Qing dynasty together we call “13 classics”.
Let’s see the tablets of the second display room. The display room mainly houses the stone tablets of calligraphy written by famous calligraphers of the Tang Dynasty. The famous one is the Nestorian Tablet which was the first one in Syrian characters that records Nestorians.
The third display room house the stone tablets that range from the Han dynasty to the Song dynasty. The bear a wide variety of Chinese script forms, including seal script, official script， regular script ,running script and cursive script.
Now let me introduce the development of Chinese characters. From 21 to 11 century BC ,inscriptions carved on animals bones or turtle shell were called pictographic characters, which developed into the big seal script hundred years later .About 221 BC when Emperor Qin unified China , he ordered his minister Li Si to simplify the big seal script into small seal script.
Based on that, New forms created: the regular script gained popularity in Sui and Han dynasty and become formal style in official documents and examination papers in Tang dynasty; running and cursive hand were also boldly used by some calligraphers at that time
The rest display rooms house calligraphy and paintings, literatures and poems from different dynasties. Please visit them by youselves.
The Gallery of stone sculptures
This gallery was built in 1963. It houses more than 70 stone sculptures of Shaanxi Province. These pieces of art classified into two groups: mausoleum carvings and religious carvings.
Shaanxi is one of the places where many of nation’s early stone sculptures and relics have been found. Those have large number of superb stone sculptures particularly from the Sui and Tang dynasties.
For example, that is an outer coffin for Li Shou, a cousin of Emperor Gao Zu. It is made up of 28 black stones. And the six stone chargers which were regarded as rare treasures of art from Tang dynasty. They are sculpted in memory of the six chargers served the Tang Dynasty Emperor Li Shiming in constant wars.
Now we came to the last section with both Buddhist and Taoist sculptures. The Buddhist sculptures in the gallery are all fine works of art in terms of style, figuration and workmanship.
Ladies and gentlemen: I hope you have enjoyed my introduction to the Museum of Forest of Stone Tablets. Have a pleasant trip! See you!

The Great Mosque at Huajue Lane

The Mosque is a major spot for religious activities of over 60.000 Moslems in Xi'an, likewise, an important cultural relic protected by the Provincial People‘s Government. Unlike the Arabic mosques, with splendid domes, the minarets reaching into the clouds, the coulourful engraved sketches with dazzling patterns, the Mosque here in Xi'an possesses much Chinese traditional touch in both its design and artistic outlook; besides the style peculiar to Islamic mosques, this Mosque also holds characteristics of Chinese pavilions with painted beams and engraved ridgepoles.
　　However, any further discussion about the Mosque will be futile unless anything of the introduction of Islam into China is brought up.
　　Islam as a religious order was founded in the early period of the 7th century A.D. and was introduced to China in the mid-600s. At that time, Arabian merchants and travelers came to the northwest of China by way of Persia and Afghanistan and thus established diplomatic, trade, and military contacts with China. In the meantime, another route saw a batch of sea voyagers through Bangladesh Bay and the Malacca Strait to China's Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Huangzhou, Yangzhou and other cities where many of them settled down and married the local women who later gave birth to babies who then became Moslems.
　　However, massive immigration of the Moslems to China did not take place until as late as the early period of the 13th century, when Genghis Khan, as a result of his expedition against the west, had conquered vast expanses of land stretching from Central Asia to Eastern Europe, including the north of Iran. Many of the Moslems in the conquered areas were thus forced to enlist and later settled in China.
　　Among the enlisted many were soldiers, and some were smiths and officials who were called the Hui people in the history books on the Yuan dynasty. The Hui people later followed Kublai Khan down to the south, helping him unifying China and then establish the Yuan dynasty. In the wake of the conquest, Islam spread all over China and mosques began to appear everywhere. In the Yuan dynasty, many Moslems held positions both in the military and civilian organs of the country. And a lot of the Moslems took part in Zhu Yuanzhang's uprising in the early 14th century and made great contributions to the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, all the emperors of the Dynasty issued mandates to protect Islam, and to set up mosques in praise of the Moslems for their feats. In the early 16th century, Islam predominated Qinghai on the minority nationalities including the Huis, the Uygurs, the Kazaks, the Kirgizes, the Tajiks, the Tartars, the Ozbeks, the Dong Xiangs, the Salars and the Bonans. The Moslems in Xi‘an are mainly the Huis, being a small portion out of the ten million in China.
　　The Mosque at Hua Jue Lane is the largest in Xi'an, and at the same time, it is also one of the earliest built on a comparatively large scale, and well preserved mosques in China.
　　According to “the Stele on the Building of the Mosque”, the mosque is said to be built in the Tang Dynasty. However, the architectural style of the mosque suggests a possible building dating back to the Ming Dynasty. The four courtyards of the mosque cover an area of more than 12,000 square meters, out of which about 4,000 are occupied by various structures. The still intact wooden front memorial gateway of the front yard, built at the turn of the 17th century, with glazed tiles on the top, spectacular corners and upturned eaves, is about 9 metres high, and has a history of about 360 years. The stone memorial gateway in the center of the second courtyard is flanked with a tail stele on either side with dragons carved on each, recording the repair work ever since the building of the Mosque. On the back of one of the steles are engraved characters by the master calligrapher Mi Fu, “May Buddhism Fill the Universe”, on the other, “Royal -Bestowed”by Dong Qichang, another master of the same art of the Ming dynasty. They are treasures in Chinese calligraphy. At the entrance of the third courtyard is an imperial built hall, where a “month tablet”, showing the calculation of the Hui Calendars in Arabic, is stored. It was compiled by a man in charge of the mosque called Xiao Mining in the early period of the Qing dynasty. A three –storeyed octagonal wooden structure called “Retrospection Tower”also stands in the center of the courtyard, which has the same function as the minaret in Islamic temples in Arabic countries, and which is a place from where orders were sent to call the Moslems to come to worship. Respectively, on the south and north wings of the tower, are a reception chamber and a Scripture Chamber, both elegantly laid out. The five wooden houses, which are called “Water Houses”in the southwest section of the Mosque are the place where the believers bathe themselves before they attend their services. And in side the fourth courtyard there is a structure called “the Pavilion of Phoenix”, a place where the worshipers used to wait for the services. The Pavilion, in fact, is a compound structure of three small buildings. The six-gabled structure of the central part, adjoining the two three-gabled buildings on each side looks very much like a flying phoenix, and hence its name. Just at the back of the Pavilion, there is a fishpond, beyond which is a platform occupying an area as large as 700 m2. Across both ends of the platform stands the 1,300 square metered service hall, holding over a thousand worshipers at once. There are over six hundred sunk panels well as the sunk panels, are decorated with patterns of painted trailing plants and Arabic letterings. The imam leads his group of worshipers, while facing in the direction of Mecca, to chant in Koran and to pay their religious homage.
　　The Moslems in China share very much the same customs with their brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world. They worship five times a day: at dawn, at noon, in the afternoon, at dusk, and at night. Female worshipers attend their services in a separated place from their brothers, usually at home. Moslems pay special attention to their health and see that they always wear clean clothes. They are teetotalers not only of wine, but also of pork and animal blood for in Koran pigs have been mentioned four times as being “unclean”. According to Koran, a man can have four wives and women should wear veils when they go out. However, except a few places in Xinjiang, the Chinese practise monogamy and women are veiless when they go out. Upon his death, a Moslem has to be “thoroughly cleaned”(thoroughly bathed), has to be put on “Ke Fan”(to be shrouded with a piece of white cloth) and has to be buried coffinless in the ground, with an imam reciting Scriptures at the funeral.
　　The Chinese constitution promulgates that freedom of religion of each citizen and freedom of preserving or reforming local customs for every nationality are permitted. And of course, the Moslems in China enjoy equal rights with peoples of other nationalities and their religious beliefs and customs are respected everywhere in the country.

GPA

英文全称：grade-point average
　　简单来说就是平均成绩。
　　申请人在国内的学习成绩，无论是高中成绩还是大学成绩，采取两种形式来表现，一种是GPA（Grade Point Average)即“平均成绩点数”,另一种是“Rank”即：“毕业名次”。这两种形式是美国大多数学校用来衡量申请人学业成绩的标准，通过了解申请人以前的学习名次和学习成绩来了解其学业潜力。
　　（一） 平均成绩点数-GPA
　　美国多数大学对申请人GPA都有最低规定，不够最低GPA要求的不予考虑。GPA计算方法是把各科成绩按等级乘以学分再以总学分除之。以百分制为例，90至100为A等=4.0，80至89为B等=3.0，70至79为C等=2.0，60至69为D等=1.0，60分以下为F等=0点。例如某学生的五门功课的学分和成绩为：A课程四个学分，成绩92（A），应得点数为4*4=16，B课程三个学分，成绩80（B），应得点数为3*3=9，C课程两个学分，成绩98（A），应得点数为2*4=8，D课程六个学分，成绩70（c），应得点数为6*2=12，E课程三个学分，成绩89（B），应得点数为3*3=9。以上五项成绩GPA：
　　GPA=[（4*4）+（3*3）+（2*4）+（6*2)+（3*3）]/（4+3+2+6+3）=3.00
　　总平均基点（Overall GPA)是将全部所修学科按以上方法计算出来的点数，最后两年平均基点（ GPA for the last two years)即将最后两年所修的各科按上述方法计算出来的点数。
　　在美国90%的学校GPA计算方法为4.00制（4.00 scale)的，又有1%的学校会采取5.00制。即A等成绩为5，B等为4，C等为3，D等为2，F等为1，这些学校的最低入学标准也就相应提高了。
　　中国学生在申请时，应按照自己原先学校采用的GPA制提供成绩，同时注明采用了哪一种GPA制，对于我国学生很不利的是中国大部分学校的评分相当严，所以很多优秀学生GPA换算出来以后还不到3.0,在有些大学里班上前5名的学生平均成绩可能会在75左右。而有的学生虽然平均成绩上了80但用上述方法一计算也不到3.0-这取决与90分以上科目和80分以下科目的多少。而且在中国内部，计算GPA的方法也不尽相同，例如对外经济贸易大学，清华大学采取以下折算方法：90-A，80~90-B，70~80-C...有些学校则采取另一种方法：85以上为4.0, 75分以上为3.0. 65分以上为2.0...所以有的学校的GPA较其他学校的GPA偏高--That is unfair!!!

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The Terra Cotta Warriors

The Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses are the most significant archeological excavations of the 20th century. Work is ongoing at this site, which is around 1.5 kilometers east of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum, Lintong County, Shaanxi province. It is a sight not to be missed by any visitor to China. The museum covers an area of 16,300 square meters, divided into three sections: No. 1 Pit, No. 2 Pit, and No. 3 Pit respectively. They were tagged in the order of their discoveries. No. 1 Pit is the largest, first opened to the public on China's National Day, 1979. There are columns of soldiers at the front, followed by war chariots at the back. No. 2 Pit, found in 1976, is 20 meters northeast of No. 1 Pit. It contained over a thousand warriors and 90 chariots of wood. It was unveiled to the public in 1994.Archeologists came upon No. 3 Pit also in 1976, 25 meters northwest of No. 1 Pit. It looked like to be the command center of the armed forces. It went on display in 1989, with 68 warriors, a war chariot and four horses. Altogether over 7,000 pottery soldiers, horses, chariots, and even weapons have been unearthed from these pits. Most of them have been restored to their former grandeur. The Terracotta Warriors and Horses is a sensational archeological find of all times. It has put Xian on the map for tourists. It was listed by UNESCO in 1987 as one of the world cultural heritages.

Premier-Wen-Jiabao-in Cambridge University

2 February 2009

Premier Wen Jiabao of The People’s Republic of China made the trip from London to the University of Cambridge this afternoon despite the snowstorm to give the prestigious Rede Lecture at West Road Concert Hall.
He spoke to a packed and receptive international audience of more than 500 staff and students about the history of development in China, the challenges ahead and the present financial crisis. The lecture was entitled: "See China in the Light of Her Development".
He then responded to questions from the audience.
His lecture was briefly interrupted by a member of the audience who was removed from the lecture by University Proctors and has subsequently been arrested by Police on suspicion of breach of the peace and attempted assault.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alison Richard, said: "We were much honoured that Premier Wen gave the Rede Lecture this afternoon, and I was delighted to accept his gift of the China Digital Library, in recognition of the University's 800th Anniversary.
"I deeply regret that a single member of the audience this afternoon failed to show the respect for our speaker that is customary at Cambridge. This university is a place for considered argument and debate, not for shoe-throwing."

The one who want to cut the friendship between China and England will never be succeed!